A Guide to Underground London

Monument (part of Bank station)

Posted in Circle Line, District Line, Northern Line, Waterloo and City Line on Apr 11th, 2010

Opened: 1884

Lines served: Central, Northern, DLR, Circle, District, Waterloo & City

The station originally opened as Eastcheap but was renamed Monument a month later. It is actually interlinked with Bank, despite the separate names and entrances.

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The Monument
The Monument is a 202ft (61.5m) hollow Portland stone column, built in the 1670s to commemorate the Great Fire of London (1666). It was erected on Fish Street Hill on the site of St. Margaret’s, the first church to be destroyed by the fire. Its height is the exact distance from the column to the point in Pudding Lane where the fire began. The internal staircase has 345 steps. After 311, it opens out to the public viewing balcony.

The Great Fire
The fire raged for 4 days and destroyed the majority of the City including St. Paul’s Cathedral and many other churches and public buildings. It was eventually distinguished on 5th September 1666.

I didn’t start the fire
The idea for a memorial was intended to both commemorate the fire and celebrate the rebuilding of London. Sir Christopher Wren and his colleague Dr. Robert Hooke (a physicist and inventor) presented a plan for a Doric column with an internal staircase which visitors could use to access a viewing balcony at the summit.

Wren’s original design saw the column topped with a gilt bronze Phoenix. He then thought that a statue of Charles II would be more suitable and designed a 15ft likeness. The King however objected, astutely pointing out that he hadn’t started the fire. An urn of flames was eventually agreed upon.

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Science experiments
The hollow column was initially used by the Royal Society to conduct science experiments. A pendulum was suspended inside but vibrations from surrounding traffic caused so much interference that accurate recordings were rendered impossible.

Deaths
In 1750, a weaver named William Green leant over the railing of the balcony to get a closer look at a live eagle that was kept up there in a cage. He lost his balance, tumbled over the edge and fell to his death.

Between 1788 and 1842, 6 people committed suicide by jumping from the Monument. After the death of the 6th person, a servant girl named Jane Cooper, the building was briefly closed so that a safety cage could be added.

Lucky Escape
During the Second World War, the Monument managed to escape the Blitz relatively unscathed while many other buildings in the City were badly damaged. Interestingly, it received superficial damage at the base from fragments of a bomb which landed almost exactly 202ft to the west in King William Street.

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St Magnus the Martyr
Standing at what was the northern end of the old London Bridge (on Lower Thames Street), the Church of St. Magnus the Martyr is easy to overlook, now partially obscured by the surrounding buildings. It was rebuilt by Wren after the fire and the steeple is considered one of his finest.

In 1581, a Dutchman names Pieter Morice, harnessed the current of the Thames to supply local houses with water. He demonstrated the power of his system by sending a jet of water up over the church tower.

Stones from the old London Bridge can be found in the churchyard, along with wooden remains of a Roman wharf. Inside the church itself is a grand organ and 13ft (4m) model of the old London Bridge.